A History of the Healing Cordial of Queen Lucy
by The Owl's Pen
Summary: From the Scrolls of the Thousand Dryads in the Library of Castle Cair Paravel: A History of the Healing Cordial of Queen Lucy the Valiant. Lucy/Edmund/Susan/Peter SiblingFic
1. Prologue

**Author's Notes**

**Disclaimer: C.S. Lewis owns The Chronicles of Narnia, not I!**

**Rated: _T _**for intensity and references to death and injury.

**Hello! Welcome to my second Narnia FanFic! This is what I was writing while waiting for the gremlins to get outta the computer and let me post stuff. *smiles* Guess those little critters are good for something after all!**

**I was inspired to write the following prologue after reading and being so floored by the dramatic style of Lirenel's "The Martyrdom of St. Edmund," (Excellent work Lirenel!) and the rest of the story progressed from there. Chapter 1 is in progress. Please do read, review, and enjoy!**

From the Scrolls of the Thousand Dryads in the Library of Castle Cair Paravel

A History of the Healing Cordial of Queen Lucy, the Valiant.

King Edmund, the Just, was the first to taste of the life-restoring elixir. Having shattered the awful wand of the White Witch Jadis with his own sword during the War of the Hundred Year Winter, King Edmund's life was threatened in payment for his noble deed. Jadis contrived to stab him through with her broken weapon, leaving him to die upon the battlefield of mortal wounds. Although only a child, he clung bravely to life and his blood, and lived long enough to know that Aslan had slain the White Witch. The King's noble brother and sisters were with him when he drew his last breath. Yet with that breath, King Edmund also swallowed the precious drop of the Fire Flower, and his life was returned to him.

Queen Susan, the Gentle, carrying out her tasks of comfort and beauty by journeying to a Narnian house in which there dwelt sickness, was met by a treacherous Minotaur. Though offering the signs of peace and reconciliation that are becoming to a sovereign, Queen Susan was not heeded by the Minotaur, and she was forced to shoot him with an arrow. The enraged creature charged the gentle Queen. She was thrown against a mighty rock, and her body was broken. She might soon have died, had a watchful bird of the air not flown with all swiftness to Castle Cair Paravel, bringing back the Queen's sister to administer the cordial, and her brothers to avenge her of the Minotaur.

High King Peter, the Magnificent, whilst leading a campaign against Calormenes who sought to invade and conquer Narnia, met in sudden battle with a Calormene lord. The interloper sought to separate King Peter from Narnian aid, and drove him to the waters of Beruna, where other soldiers lay in wait. Two young Dryads of Narnia stripped the soldiers of their weapons, but one was felled and the other held captive by the soldiers. High King Peter struggled against the weaponless Calormenes. They dragged him into the river and held him under the water, until his breath left him. Knowing her High King to be dying, the Dryad broke free of the Calormenes and mounted the wind, flying to where the King's sister stood waiting for his return. A Griffin carried the Queen and her cordial to her brother, and High King Peter that same night carried out punishment on the Calormene invaders.

Queen Lucy, the Valiant, having been bitten by a poison lizard that lurked in the Pond of a Thousand Depths, soon lay dying in Castle Cair Paravel. For although the dear Queen had so often poured life into the lips of others, the Healing Cordial was now, in her own time of need, nowhere to be found...


	2. Of My Sister's Life

**_Author's Notes_**

**Disclaimer: **C.S. Lewis owns the Chronicles of Narnia, not I!

**Disclaimer 2: **I _**do not **_know the actual proper procedures for treating bites by poisonous creatures, I only got my information off of the Internet. So I'm not sure this is entirely accurate and do not advise anyone to try it, okay? I know, I'm a worrywart *smiles*

**Thanks so much to Sentimental Star, GuitarGirl496, Luna Nigra, and ..books for your reviews of the Introduction, and also for one particular suggestion that I think I just might follow up on... to be announced! This chapter took a long time to get together because I wrote it in one sequence, then decided to shuffle the order of events quite drastically.**

**Glad to see that I generated a little concern for Lucy's welfare! As to how she's going to fare, well... isn't that what you are reading the story to find out??? *grins***

**Please read and review!**

*******

_**"Lucy!"**_

The memory of Susan's own scream shattered upon her ears over and over as she bent over her sister, her face almost as white as Lucy's. She let the tears that had been pushing at the back of her eyes spill over. Even as she cried quietly, Susan began treating the wound as she had been taught, making sure to keep it below the level of Lucy's heart.

"Oh Lucy," she murmured. "Do wake up dear! We need you to tell us where that cordial is…" She tied on a tourniquet, hating to make the cloth band cut into Lucy's delicate skin but terrified to make it too loose lest the... poison...

She shuddered, unable even to complete that thought. From the other room she could hear hurried shuffling noises as Lucy's personal handmaiden searched for the bottle of cordial. "Rainwen!"

The Beech Dryad poked her mossy head back into the room, eyes troubled. "Milady?"

"Have you – have you found it yet?"

"No, Milady." The Dryad hesitated, then picked up a woven blanket and tucked it in around Lucy. "Best keep her warm. And you too, my Queen," she said, touching Susan's cold cheek.

"Thanks," Susan murmured. "Keep looking."

"Of course."

Susan began sponging the wound. She shook terribly and spilled water everywhere, but she would rather have done as much for Lucy as she could than sit helpless. She murmured soft encouragement to her unconscious sister, praying Aslan would help someone in the castle to find the cordial. The wound cleansed, she bent forward and rested her forehead in Lucy's shoulder. She didn't want to see how white and still the young Queen's face had become.

"Lucy," she whispered. "We _must _find where you put that cordial. Where have you been all day? Aslan help me to remember!"

They had all been busy, Susan recalled. An envoy from Archenland had left just that morning, and at breakfast Peter had been thinking over their offer to ally themselves with Narnia. He and Edmund had discussed various strategies to strengthen King Lune's castle defenses. Susan herself had been occupied with looking over the tribute offerings the Archenlanders had presented to her, and preparing a list of the stores left after the week-long visit. Summer was almost over, and while harvest was a ways off, Susan still thought it wise to begin cleaning out the storerooms. She and Lucy had discussed getting the Moles to dig a bigger cellar, since it looked as if the harvest was going to be more bountiful than usual...

Susan sat up, frowning a little. Yes. They had agreed Lucy should go visit the Moles this day, and begin work immediately. But the chief, Lilygloves, lived a long way off on the Flat Plains of Narnia, and it would have taken Lucy a long time to get there and back.

Then she remembered that Lucy had talked about getting in another flying lesson on Willow Wing, one of the Griffins who lived in the castle.

And last, she remembered that Lucy had been looking for Edmund. But for what, Susan wasn't sure. She must have found him, though, because not half an hour later, Edmund had come running into the Cair with Lucy in his arms, crying that she had been bitten by a wretched lizard. That the lizard was poisonous was evident. One of Lucy's slender hands bore two large red punctures, and angry green tendrils traced their way under her skin, racing up her arm and toward her heart. Susan screamed her sister's name, but Lucy had already fainted and could answer no one, not even when a hysterical Peter charged her by Aslan to speak.

"Her cordial!" Edmund's dark eyes had been wide with fright. "Where is it? She didn't have it at the Pond!"

"Her room! _Hurry!"_

The stairs were run up more quickly than they had been even in the old sprinting races the children used to play. Having gained Lucy's chambers, Susan and Peter searched frantically for the cordial. Edmund laid Lucy upon the bed, and he too began flinging books and dresses about in the search. When a full two minutes had passed in this fashion, Susan dropped on her knees beside the bed.

"It isn't here. We shan't find it! Oh _Lucy!" _She cradled her unconscious sister in her arms, shaking.

"Of course we shall find it, Su," Peter protested. But his face was white and beaded with sweat. "She's only put it somewhere else in the house. Come, Ed!" The boys had run out, Peter calling for all in the castle to help them in the search while Edmund sent for a doctor and Susan remained to tend to Lucy…

Susan took a long, slow breath and began methodically searching the layers of her sister's soft dress, hoping that in their fright she and her brothers had simply overlooked the cordial. It was one of Lucy's favorite practical dresses, with any number of pockets in its brown depths.

Susan gasped and clutched at the cloth.

_Brown!_ Hadn't Lucy been wearing _blue _at breakfast?

_"Rainwen!"_

The Dryad came. "Nothing yet, Milady." The Beech Girl quivered a little, as if a stormy wind was blowing upon her.

"Rainwen," Susan said quickly. "Where is the dress Lucy was wearing this morning? The blue, I think, with the red flowers at the hem and sleeves?"

Rainwen started, as if noticing for the first time that her lady was indeed wearing a different gown. "Yes! That she wore to the morning meal!" Susan jumped up and hurried to the closet, where Lucy had hung the dress. The Dryad clapped her hands together, causing the leaves in her hair to shake. "And changed to the brown habit she wears now when she left to see the Moles!"

"So she _did _see Lilygloves!" Susan exclaimed, searching through the folds and pockets of Lucy's morning dress. "Get a Falcon! Tell him to go ask Lilygloves if he or any of the moles saw the cordial on Lucy, or have seen it since she left!"

"Yes Milady!"

Susan, not finding the cordial in Lucy's gown, began hunting about on the closet floor, hoping that at any moment her fingers would encounter the cool, smooth surface of the diamond bottle, or that she might hear the soft _tink _of her nails against the stopper.

But the only cold she felt was the fear clenching her heart, when the sound she heard was that of Lucy choking.


	3. Brother to My Sister

**Author's Notes**

**Disclaimer: **C.S. Lewis owns the Chronicles of Narnia, not I!

**Rated: _T _**for intensity and references to death.

**Welcome to Chapter 3! I struggled with it for a bit, but since I've gotten to the point where all I'm still fussing with is punctuation, I think it's ready to post! ****Thank you to LunaNigra, Sentimental Star, and GuitarGirl496 for your reviews of Chapter 2! And thanks so much to those of you have put me on alert. I assure you, I have written down every one of your pen names and am checking out your writings as well. You guys are amazing! **

**Now, for the chapter at hand. Are we all still worried about Lucy? **

**You should be...**

*******

Perhaps it was because the verse was book-ended by the words "brother" and "sister." Perhaps it was because Lu had read it over his shoulder not an hour ago. Perhaps it was just the stress of the moment that brought such an absurd thing to the surface of his mind. But unaccountably, the words of a riddle sing-songed through Peter's consciousness as he pounded up the steps of Cair Paravel in search of Lucy's healing cordial:

_Brother to the heights, am I._

_The voice of a young prince turned king._

_A well from which you would wish to drink._

_A sibling's devotion may sink into me._

_A canyon, a gorge, an abyss, a ravine._

_The wound that is slowest to heal._

_Of breadth, I am a sister._

_Absurd, absurd! _Peter tried to banish it from his mind as he raced to the topmost tower of the castle. He was winded by the time he reached the balcony where the Griffins kept their quarters. A small bevy of them stood in the late summer sun, letting a gentle wind stir their brown and golden feathers. Peter literally fell through the door onto the flagstones.

"Griffins!" he gasped to the stunned audience of creatures, scrambling to his feet. "Willow Wing! Where is she?"

"She has gone, My Lord," one of the Griffins replied, startled by His Highness's disheveled state. "To her ancestral home in the Heights, where a litter of young ones has been borne to her brother and his mate…"

_"No!" _Peter dug his fists into his face and cursed, causing a bewildered stir among the Griffins. No, he _must _speak to Willow Wing!

"Your Highness, what is wrong?" Highfleet, a golden fellow who had stood beside Peter in the battle against the White Witch six years ago, raised his wings at the sight of his King in distress.

"Queen Lucy is dying and her cordial is nowhere to be found!" Peter choked out. The Griffins made hissing sounds of dismay and crowded round him. "I thought, since this morning she talked of riding Willow Wing…"

Before Peter could even finish his sentence, there was a rushing of fur and feathers, talons and beak. Highfleet lashed his tail and leaped from the tower into the air, calling over the flurry of his wings, "I shall bring her back, Sire!" Then he was gone, a golden arrow in the sky.

"Thank you!" Peter cried. "And hurry!"

"Willow Wing left not ten minutes ago," one of the remaining three Griffins said comfortingly, "And Highfleet is far faster than she. If she knows the whereabouts of Queen Lucy's cordial, she shall tell him. Come!" He clapped his wings in the air. "Featherfoot, Tailwind! We shall search the castle grounds for Queen Lucy's cure!" And, brushing their wings against Peter in sympathy, the Griffins dove from the balcony, zigzagging over the lawn. It was a sight that would normally have filled his heart with joy.

Peter turned and began the rapid descent from the tower, breathing hard but not daring to slow in his steps. Below him he heard courtiers calling to one another, their voices loud and frightened. And no wonder. Narnia loved Lucy, loved her with all Aslan had given it. Just as he and Edmund and Susan loved her with primal devotion. It was the way of the land to love one's brothers and sisters so. No wonder Willow Wing had hurried off, to see her brother's nestlings in the Heights! The words began their relentless sing-song:

_Brother to the heights._

_Of breadth, I am a sister._

Brother. Sister. His Lucy, his darling, almost like a daughter to him! When had they gotten so close? Lucy was fifteen, still a baby in Peter's heart. It would always be thus. Peter had told her one day, half joking but quite honest, that she may as well give up trying to be a grown-up around _him, _because it would break his heart if he suddenly found that she wasn't a wide-eyed innocent any more. Lucy had accepted it, a wise smile hidden in the depths of her blue eyes. "That's all right Peter," she had replied, pressing a kiss into his beard. "You've had a hard enough time watching Susan and Edmund become adults, poor fellow! _I _don't mind not growing up." Peter had embraced her gratefully. So had all Narnia, for their Queen's youth was a source of eternal spring to them. Peter didn't think he could face the day when her bright spirit no longer flooded the castle.

_Aslan help us! Surely that day has not come so soon!_

His breath knifed into his chest by the time he reached the breakfast room where they had all gathered that morning. The day had started here. Surely Lucy had been carrying her cordial then! But he couldn't remember. Not one of them could remember. The cordial was as much a part of Lucy as her hair or eyes, and yet no one seemed able to recall if they had seen it on her or not! Had she taken it off when they sat at table, since always Susan insisted Peter and Edmund lay aside their swords?

Peter knelt down and began searching the carpet under the carved table, the weaving of red and green vines and gold and blue flowers under Lucy's chair. He'd been talking with Ed about the Archenlanders, hadn't he? And enjoying a meal of fresh eggs and sweet cakes. Lucy and Su had been discussing something about the Archenlanders' tribute. He hadn't once looked right at the bottle of cordial. Confound it, why hadn't he _noticed? _He was the elder brother! Wasn't he supposed to be aware of every hair on his sister's head, every restless movement of her fingers, every thoughtful expression? On his hands and knees, Peter searched the whole length and width of the breakfast room, but there was no evidence of the cordial anywhere. He knelt on the floor by his sister's chair and buried his face in his hands.

"Lu," he whispered. "Where _is it? _When did I see it last? When did I see _you _last?"

She had come to his study in the afternoon, Peter remembered, looking windblown and impish in he riding habit, and asked if he had seen Edmund. Peter, engrossed in the enigma before him, had been vague in his reply to her. It was that silly little verse he had been puzzling over all morning, when the others thought he was drafting a letter of alliance to King Lune. What an inappropriate time for him to be toying with such a thing! Yet he couldn't make himself put it down. It was the Archenlander envoy's fault, actually. One of the fellows had left the riddle for Peter to solve, and it had been tickling at his mind ever since.

"We have heard that Your Majesty is fond of puzzles," the Lord Ewan had smiled. "Perhaps you should like to try your hand at this one." And he had slipped a little parchment into Peter's hand.

Now, Peter _did _have a fancy for riddles, and from the first line, this one had him interested. Lucy had discovered him racking his brains over it when she came to ask about Edmund. She read it over the King's shoulder, smiling at his absorption in it. He had been so distracted that he barely recalled the sensation of her kiss against his hair, or her soft voice asking him to tell her when the riddle was solved. And he'd been fussing with it still when Susan came in to inquire about the Archenland alliance. Peter had barely opened his mouth to reply when Edmund rushed into the study, their little Lucy white-faced and limp in his arms.

High King Peter touched the carved back of Lucy's chair and strangled a sob. "Oh Lu," he gasped. "You _must _make it! You wanted to know the answer, remember?"

Even as the tears trickled down Peter's face and into his beard, he pulled himself to his feet, thinking that he should check the east hall of the house where he had told Lu to look for Edmund. If Lucy _had _gone out on Willow Wing, there was nothing he could do until the Griffins returned. Best start with the places he _knew _she had been. The house was echoing with sound by now, courtiers' footsteps ringing on the stones, voices high and low calling from room to room, doors being flung open. It was reassuring to know that so many were involved in the search. The noise was a comfort.

And then the sound of Susan's despairing wail rent Peter's heart.


	4. Sister of My Redemption

**Author's Notes**

**Disclaimer: **C.S. Lewis owns the Chronicles of Narnia, not I!

**Rated: _T _for intensity and references to death.**

**Welcome to Chapter 4, everyone! Thanks to GuitarGirl496, LunaNigra, and Coralyne for their reviews of Chapter 3!**

**This chapter was actually written before 2 and 3. But as you will see, it makes the most sense at this point in the story. I enjoyed writing it because, well... you'll see *grins* Two more chapters to go after this one!**

**Enjoy the read, and please review!**

**... and by the way... has anyone tried to solve the Archenlander's riddle?**

*******

Edmund flung himself through the cellar door, and gazed about in panic.

"Where, Aslan?" Edmund pleaded aloud as he began rifling through the stores. "Where do I find my sister's healing? Where do I find the one thing she never lets out of her sight?"

He hadn't even noticed, when Lucy came to ask him if he should like to go swimming, that she didn't have the cordial with her. He supposed that they had all become so used to seeing the little bottle of red at her hip that they had actually_ stopped _seeing it. Lucy _always _carried the cordial, leaving it at hand when she slept, just as Peter and Edmund kept their swords in reach and Susan her bow and horn. It had been how many years now, six? Seven? And Lucy never left that thing more than a stone's throw away! Until this day.

"And _what _a day!" he moaned.

He shoved aside a barrel of apples. Edmund had begun in the store room because he recalled hearing Susan and Lucy talking about it that morning at breakfast. Something about making it bigger. So he supposed his sisters had come down to take a look. After that, he wasn't sure what had happened. He hadn't seen Lucy for what seemed an awfully long time between breakfast and dinner. He himself had ridden Philip out to the Shuddering Woods, so that he might inform the Centaurs of the High King's decision to ally with Archenland. Edmund would be returning the neighboring country's visit in a week's time, and wanted a few Centaurs to accompany him and assess the castle's strategic position. When he came back to the castle, very hot and dusty from the long ride on a summer day, Lucy's suggestion of a swim in the Pond had been irresistible. He immediately changed into swimming clothes and joined her on the short walk.

In the cool green shadows by the Pond, they had sat down to take off their sandals. There was thick soft moss and a gentle breeze had come up. Edmund actually contemplated taking a nap before diving into the water. He lay back and closed his eyes for just a moment, sinking into the coolness of the moss. It was better than an ice pack, even. Then he heard Lucy laughing his name, and an indistinct murmur.

"Mmm." He sighed and opened his eyes. "What was that, Lu?"

Lucy gave him an impish smile as she reached to push herself up from the ground. "I _said, _Sir Edmund, that you can h-"

There hadn't even been time to think.

A hiss. A flash. A dull, copper-colored reptile. The snapping of teeth.

Lucy's cry.

Edmund, so accustomed to responding in battle, had been too slow. Lulled by the peace of a summer swim with his sister on the castle grounds.

He didn't even clearly remember reacting to the lizard's strike, just Lucy's gasp and the _snick _of his own sword. The lizard fell dead on the moss. Lucy sat clutching her bleeding hand. Edmund stared at her for a long moment before realizing that the monstrosity at his feet was a venomous one.

Lucy's eyes were far too bright.

"Lucy!" He grabbed her shoulders. "Your cordial! Quick!"

Her lips opened and closed, but she seemed unable to speak.

Edmund reached for her belt, but the little flask he knew so well was missing. Sweat broke out over him. "Where is it?" he gasped. "Lu, tell me where it is!"

She stared at him.

"Lu!"

She slumped forward in his arms.

_"Lucy!"_

There had been nothing for it but to scoop her up and run into the Cair. Her face was white and she trembled wildly – or was it Edmund himself shaking like that? He had choked for air as if bursting up from the depths of the Pond itself, but he couldn't remember ever running faster.

Through the Great Hall. Up the stairs. Into Peter's study.

Crying the whole time.

Peter's shout and his chair falling to the floor. Susan's scream. Lucy seeming to get smaller, wispier, paper-thin, with every second.

No cordial. No where. Not in her chambers. Not in this whole bloody castle.

"Oh Aslan!" Edmund leaned against a keg of honey, eyes closed, feeling sick in his stomach. "Help us, please! You've always come to us when we needed you. Lucy loves us, loves _you! _Loves all Narnia as only she can. What good would it be to let her die?"

He sank to the floor. _"I _love her, Aslan. Don't take her from me."

Lucy. Edmund had always loved his little sister, even long ago in – in that Other Place he couldn't recall anything else about, just the fact that he had been there with his brother and sisters. Yes, he teased and taunted and even betrayed her. Edmund remembered that even when he could remember nothing else. But had she once said I told you so? Such was against her nature, and her heart that sought only to give. Lucy, a bright and shining lamp in a dark wood, had been the one to lead Edmund from that Other Place where he was such a terrible creature, into Narnia where he became King Edmund the Just. He owed Aslan his life. But he owed Lucy the soul-deep gratitude that came with her having been his guide _to _Aslan.

And now she was slipping away from him.

Shuddering, Edmund cast his light about the cellar, hoping that at any moment he would see the comforting gleam of red that meant everything was going to be all right. The light shining on the wine bottles caught his attention, and he stepped forward to see if perhaps Lucy's cordial was hiding among them.

He didn't remember hearing the wine bottle crash to the floor at his feet.

He didn't remember the frightened cries of the courtiers as they raised wide eyes to the upper levels of the Cair.

He didn't remember his footsteps slamming up the stones steps two and three at a time.

He didn't remember the hollow echo of his hand slapping open the bedroom door.

He didn't even remember his own voice tearing in his chest, "No, _no,_ _**no!"**_

All Edmund remembered hearing, then and after, was the sound of his brother and sister wailing in Lucy's chambers.


	5. The Other Country

Queen Lucy floated in darkness.

She was in pain no longer. The poison having reached her heart, she lay quiet, knowing that she was near death. It did not trouble her. Aslan would come for her soon, she was certain, and carry her to his own country. The only thing that grieved her was the thought that she was causing such heartache to her brothers and sister, and that one day they might discover…

A sigh went through her mind. She felt nothing for what seemed a long time, only the conviction that when next she woke, she would be in the paws of the Lion.

She felt his mane upon her cheek.

Smelled the perfume of his breath.

Tasted the refreshment of his tears.

Heard his purring in her ear.

_Daughter of Eve, Valiant Queen, Beloved of Narnia, Dear One of Mine…_

"Lucy."

She opened her eyes.

She saw Aslan, the True King of Narnia, smiling down on her. It was just as she had always imagined. She lay on some soft ground, with Aslan's warm and heavy body spread over her like a blanket. His paws were on her shoulders, his chin resting over her heart, his great sweet eyes locked on hers. She smiled at him.

"Oh Aslan," sighed Lucy. It was so comfortable… to be out of pain, in this embrace. She didn't want it to end. She threaded her fingers in his mane. "Will you stay with me?"

"Have I ever left you?"

Lucy laughed. "Dear me, no! But I'm so comfortable now, and it_ has_ been such a long day…"

He purred. Aslan often roared, and growled, and even laughed. But to hear the Lion purr was the rarest and sweetest sound imaginable.

"Were you scared, my Child?"

"Oh yes, very. But not of dying. I can tell you now, dying is no trouble, really."

Aslan was smiled.

"But it _was _so loud, with everyone running to and fro like that, and I wished Peter and Edmund would have stayed with me and Susan instead of leaving us."

"They feared for you, Daughter. They sought to find your cordial and save you from death."

"They needn't have feared," Lucy smiled, looking into his face. "Dear Aslan, how I've wanted to be with you in your own country!"

Aslan raised his head and touched his nose to hers in a kiss. "Lucy, Dear One, I have wanted this too. But you are not there just yet."

"Why," Lucy wondered, "Where are we then?"

"Child," Aslan smiled. "Look around you."

She looked.

On either side of her lay Peter, Susan, and Edmund, asleep in grief, their faces etched with tears. Scarlet coverings that Lucy recognized from her own bed were tangled about her brother kings and sister queen. Susan's face was pressed into her hair. Peter's hand held her fingers to his lips. Edmund's arm lay behind her head. They were piled onto the bed with her. She could see them, touch them, smell them… She was as alive as they.

Lucy drew a gasping breath.

At the sound, her brothers and sister woke. At first they stared dully at one another, shared pain in their eyes. How many hours they had been like this, Lucy couldn't know. Then Peter's face, haggard and white, turned to her. He stared.

"Lucy," he whispered.

Susan and Edmund looked up.

**_"Lucy!!!"_**

They fell on her. Peter, Susan, and Edmund didn't seem to be able to get over saying her name, shaking and crying and kissing her, and sobbing to one another that she was alive, _alive!_

Lucy found herself crying as well.

"Oh Aslan!" Peter lay a quivering arm across the Lion's back, his blue eyes locking with great golden ones. "Thank you, thank you so much!"

"You are quite welcome, My Children," Aslan rumbled in his great, velvety voice. "Never fear that I should not come for my beloved ones, to lick away your tears." He who knew her heart nudged Lucy so that she might look into his face. He fixed his eyes on her troubled gaze. Then Aslan bent and whispered in her ear, "And know that when all has been done, and the time is right, you _shall_ be with me in my own country." And he lay his head down on her heart.

Lucy lay still, feeling the strange weakness of her body as Susan, and Edmund, and Peter embraced and murmured over her, and Aslan searched her eyes. It had been so lovely… to be without pain. To see and hear and feel only the Lion and nothing else. It would never be the same after this. She should always remember the moment when she thought herself never to be separated from Aslan again. Lucy would always want that moment back. How would she live without it?

Then her siblings snuggled their faces up to hers, their hands sunk deep in the Lion's mane, and she knew. Her time here was not done. One day she would be with Aslan. As would her brothers and sister. She had been first to set foot on the threshold of Aslan's country, just as she had been first to see Narnia. She has left Narnia for a time, just as she must leave Aslan's country for a time. And she had come back to Narnia with her brothers and sister, just as one day she would come back to Aslan's country with the Peter, Edmund, and Susan. The four of them together, just as it should be.

It was enough, for now.

The kings and queens and Lion had been resting quietly with one another for some time when Susan spoke up. "But Aslan Dear, how did you do it? We couldn't find Lucy's cordial anywhere!"

"Gentle Queen," Aslan replied. "I carry with me a healing far greater than the juice of the Fire Flower. I have no need to carry it in a bottle. But as you are human and must hold such things in your hands…" He snuggled down into Lucy's arms. "Lucy, what do you find in my mane?"

Lucy's fingers closed over something cool and solid in the silky mass of gold. She drew out her hands, and found in them her healing cordial. "Why Aslan!" She kissed his nose as the others exclaimed.

"Wherever did you find it?" Susan demanded, taking the bottle to examine.

"In the Pond of a Thousand Depths," said Lucy.

Edmund cried out. _"What?"_

"Yes Edmund, that's why I asked you to come swimming with me. My cordial slipped from my dress pocket when Willow Wing was flying me back from the Plains this afternoon, and it fell into the Pond. I knew I shouldn't dive so deep alone, and I thought you should like the challenge."

She wondered why Edmund suddenly went so white, and leaned his head upon the Lion.

"Child," Aslan said gravely. "The bottle you dropped lies at the bottom of the Pond still. When your brother Edmund slew the lizard, the poison creature's blood flowed into the water, mingling with the cordial and rendering both dead. For healing and death cannot entwine. There must be one, or the other."

"Then where did you get _this?" _Peter wanted to know. And he held up the bottle.

The bottle of diamond, with the stopper in the shape of a gold Lion's head, it's etching of a glorious sun rising behind twin mountain peaks, and her initials in gold above all, was exactly like that given to Lucy by Father Christmas, even to the level of the sparkling red cordial.

"Dear Ones," said Aslan, smiling into their faces. "Have none of you guessed where_ all_ of your Gifts come from?"


	6. Epilogue

From the Scrolls of the Thousand Dryads in the Library of Castle Cair Paravel

… Her life and cordial having been restored to her by the grace of Aslan, Queen Lucy in later months desired a tapestry to be hung in the private sitting room of the four sovereigns. The Valiant Queen commissioned weavers and poets to create the image of a golden lion on a blue ground. Lying between his paws were the figures of a sword and a shield, a bow, arrows and horn, a broken tablet of ancient stone, and a vial of red. On the four borders of the tapestry these words were woven in scarlet:

_The Lion's Mane is the shield of Peter,_

_the High and Magnificent King._

_The Lion's Teeth are the sword of Peter_

_with which he brings peace to Narnia.  
_

_The Lion's Claws are the arrows of Susan,_

_the Beautiful and Gentle Queen._

_His Tail is the bow, his Roar the horn_

_with which she gathers Narnians to her.  
_

_The Lion's Blood is the life of Edmund,_

_the Redeemed and Just King._

_The Lion's Heart is on his lips,_

_And he is quick to offer mercy.  
_

_The Lion's Tears are the tears of Lucy,_

_the Devoted and Valiant Queen._

_The Lion's Flower is in her hands,_

_And she is quick to offer life._

_***_

***Grinning***

**Come on, you _knew _I wouldn't actually let Lucy die (at least not permanently), right? Right! So what did you think??? **

**Did anyone solve the Archenlander's riddle? If you did, then you'll know that I gave you (and Peter) a clue as to the whereabouts of Lucy's cordial, since the answer is... "Deep!" As in The Pond of a Thousand Depths... gimicky, I know, but I thought it was fun.**

**Enough babble from me. Please review! I'm really happy to finally have this all done and posted, and I'd love to know what _everyone _thinks. Thumbs up, thumbs down, yadda yadda yadda... Come on, don't be shy! PM me if you wish.**

**Thanks so much again to Sentimental Star, GuitarGirl496, ..books., LunaNigra, and Coralyne for reviewing!**

**Until next time! I do have a few one-shots brewing...**


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